All swimming spots › North Devon, England
Can I swim at Combe Martin?
North Devon, England · Coastal
Checking…
Before you get in
A red flag means do not go in, whatever this page says.
If you get into trouble, float on your back until the cold shock passes. Full advice below.
In an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard, or 112 in the Republic of Ireland.
Water quality today
The last fortnight
What this verdict covers
Independent site, not an official one. This verdict is about water quality. It does not tell you whether the water is safe to get into today.
How it has been rated
The annual classification for 2021 to 2025. Each one is calculated from samples taken over up to four bathing seasons, so these overlap and none of them describes today.
Every sample, 2024 to 2026
45 samples, 2024 to 2026. The highest E. coli count in them was 4,600 per 100ml, on 8 September 2026; the standard for Excellent is 250 or below and for Good 500 or below.
One bar for each sample, oldest on the left. The taller the bar, the more E. coli that bottle held.
The scale is the same on every beach on this site, which is why a clean beach looks flat — the bars are measured against the standard rather than against that beach’s own worst day. Hover or tap a bar for that day’s figures. A single count over a line is not a failed beach. The classification is worked out as the 90th and 95th percentile of four years of samples, so one bad morning does not decide it — and one good morning does not either. 3 of these are above the Good standard, so they are pinned to the top with a notch rather than the chart stretching to fit them.
What these bacteria mean for you
Neither one is what makes people ill by itself. They are markers: they live in the gut, so finding them means sewage or animal waste has reached the water, and whatever else came with it is likely there too.
The usual way to catch something is swallowing the water, and the usual result is a stomach upset. Ear, eye, chest and skin infections are the other common ones. Putting your head under and swimming with an open cut both raise the odds.
The riskiest time is the day or two after heavy rain, when storm overflows discharge and rain washes off farmland — including at beaches rated Excellent for the rest of the season. That is the whole reason this page shows you rainfall and discharges alongside the grade.
Combe Martin was rated Sufficient for 2025, the minimum passing grade in the Bathing Water Regulations. That grade comes from bacterial samples taken over several seasons, so it describes the beach's record rather than the water on any given day.
The Environment Agency issues a pollution risk forecast each morning during the bathing season for nearly every bathing water in England, and the water company publishes the status of its storm overflows every few minutes.
The regulator records this as a bathing water whose quality can be affected by heavy rain, which is why rainfall in the last 24 hours is shown above.
The rest of its file
What the regulator holds for this place. None of it describes the water today.
- Water
- Coastal
- Area
- North Devon, England
- Monitored outfalls within 5km
- 5 (nearest 0.1km)
- Affected by heavy rain
- Yes, per the regulator
Sea, wind, tide and weather
The sea and the weather here today and for the week ahead. Not the water quality verdict above.
Today
Rain, the week behind and ahead
The weather for the week ahead
Where it is, and what discharges near it
Directions to this bathing water
That is the Environment Agency’s sampling point, which is at the water rather than at a car park. Your maps app will take you to the nearest road it can reach.
The nearest mapped car park is about 70m away in a straight line (Kiln Pay & Display Car Park). That is not a walking distance: OpenStreetMap knows where the car park is and nothing about the path, which may be longer, steeper or not there at all. It is tagged as charging a fee, as the mappers wrote it.
What is mapped at this beach
- Toilets about 90m away — free, step-free
- The Redwood about 80m away
Straight-line distances from OpenStreetMap, not walking distances, and only what volunteers have mapped — something missing here may still be there.
Getting here without a car
- Nearest bus stop Seaside (SE-bound), Borough Road, about 100m away
Straight-line distances to where the stop or station is, from the national registers of them. That a stop exists is not a promise that a bus calls at it — timetables are somebody else’s data and this page does not read them, so check the operator before you rely on it.
The record since 2020
In 2025, the 3 monitored overflows the Environment Agency lists against this bathing water spilled 54 times, for about 862 hours in total. Over the 2025 bathing season alone, 1 May to 30 September, 1 of those spills happened — 2% of the year. One of the monitors behind that figure was working for 50% of the season, so the real count may be higher.
- 2020291 spills · 5,126 hours
- 2021108 spills · 1,353 hours
- 202251 spills · 637 hours
- 202393 spills · 1,346 hours
- 202497 spills · 1,334 hours
- 202554 spills · 862 hours
These are annual totals for the whole year, not readings from today — today’s answer is the verdict at the top of the page. Figures come from the Environment Agency’s Event Duration Monitoring annual returns, which the water companies submit and the EA publishes, and the EA decides which overflows count as belonging to this bathing water.
What the regulator says about this beach
From the Environment Agency’s published bathing water profile for 2026. It describes the place and its catchment, not today’s water.
The beach itself
Combe Martin is a small resort, in a sheltered valley, at the western edge of Exmoor National Park on the north Devon coast. The beach is sandy, approximately 110 metres wide and the River Umber is channelled across the beach at the west side.
What drains into it
The catchment surrounding Combe Martin is approximately 1,500 hectares. There are two streams at the beach. The Furze Park Stream is approximately 2.3 kilometres (km) long and enters the sea at the west side of the beach. The River Umber is approximately five kilometres long and drains directly from the northern slopes of Exmoor. The very steep slopes in the area mean rain runs off rapidly into the river. Land use is mostly agricultural, with more than 50 farms.
More from the profile
Where the sewage works discharges
The outfall from Combe Martin STW discharges 450m offshore of the bathing water. This discharge is disinfected and designed to protect bathing water quality.
What has been done about it
In the past the main impacts at this bathing water included a continuous discharge of untreated sewage at Lester Point, a private untreated discharge, and leaky sewers and unsatisfactory combined sewer overflows (CSO) discharging to the River Umber. The South West Water sewage treatment scheme for Combe Martin, which provides secondary treatment, was partially completed in 1995. The outfall for the scheme at Lester Point was extended in 1996. Extensive resewerage including improvements to combined sewer overflows (CSO) and the removal of a private untreated discharge were also completed at that time. The Combe Martin STW was upgraded with ultraviolet disinfection in 2001. Storm overflow event duration monitoring was installed at Pack O'Cards and Lorna Irwin CSOs, and Beach pumping station by April 2011. Extensive re-lining of sewers was carried out by South West Water during early 2013. A major project to increase capacity at the Pack O’Cards and Beach CSO’s was undertaken during winter 2014/2015 and was completed in March 2015. In 2018 a leaking sewer pipe discharging into the Rosea Stream was identified by the Environment Agency and subsequently repaired by South West Water. In 2019 South West Water carried out works at Lorna Irwin CSO and Beach CSO to improve the system in this area and reduce the number of spills from these assets. Further work is ongoing. Since 2020 , as part of their AMP7 project (the 7th Asset Management Period planned by the UK water industry) South West Water has been working within the catchment to reduce infiltration, identify further misconnections and reduce the number of storm overflows by optimising the sewer network in Combe Martin.
What the samplers see on the sand
Environment Agency samplers make observations of litter present on the beach at every visit, this includes assessments of sewage debris, litter and tar. At Combe Martin for the four year (2022-2025) assessment period where data is available, sewage debris was not assessed as being sufficient to be objectionable, but was observed as being present on 1% of visits. Litter was assessed as being sufficient to be objectionable for 1% of visits, with 52% of visits noting the presence of litter. Tarry residue was not noted at this site.
The council's part
The urban area of Combe Martin immediately behind the beach is served by a combined (surface and sewer) system. There are no outfalls from the system onto the beach. The Environment Agency have regularly inspected and sampled surface water outfalls. Working with local volunteers, the Environment Agency carried out a Yellow Fish campaign in 2016 to raise awareness of sources of water pollution. The campaign highlighted the damage caused by pouring oils, paints, solvents, chemicals or dirty water down highway gullies or surface drains. Further awareness raising campaigns, in partnership with Combe Martin Parish Council, were carried out in 2018. This included establishing the Combe Martin Water Watch group, a local community action group driving water quality improvements and awareness raising campaigns. The Environment Agency will continue to work with the community group and other interested parties. In 2021 DNA analysis of previous year’s water quality samples has shown faecal bacteria from dog fouling to be a contributor of poor water quality at the bathing water. This may be from dogs directly on the beach, or from dog faeces further up the catchment washing into the river or surface water system. The Environment Agency is helping to provide new dog waste bins alongside the River Umber to encourage responsible dog owners to dispose of dog waste appropriately.
Published by the Environment Agency under the Open Government Licence. The full profile carries more, including sections repeated for every beach that are not reproduced here.
Other swimming spots nearby
The closest bathing waters on the regulators’ lists, straight-line distance. Each has its own checks and its own verdict.
Check the official source
The regulator’s own page for this bathing water. If it disagrees with this one, believe theirs.
Combe Martin's official page at the Environment Agency · See it on a map
This page is not official. It reads published data and presents it plainly; if a sign at the beach says otherwise, believe the sign.
If you get into trouble
This is the RNLI’s advice, not ours.
Float. Tilt your head back with your ears in the water. Relax and let your breathing settle. Move your hands and legs gently to stay level. Your legs may sink, and that is fine, everyone floats differently. The first shock of cold water passes in less than a minute, so do not try to swim straight away. Once it has passed, call for help or swim to safety.
Caught in a rip current? Do not swim against it, you will only tire yourself out. If you can stand, wade out of it. If the water is too deep to stand, swim parallel to the beach until you are clear of it, then head for shore. Raise your hand and shout for help.
Nobody publishes a rip current forecast for beaches in Britain or Ireland, so this site cannot show you one. The RNLI has one for its own lifeguards. The public does not. Look at the water before you get in, and look for a channel where the waves are not breaking.
In an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. In the Republic of Ireland call 112 or 999 and ask for the Coast Guard.
Where there are lifeguards, swim between the red and yellow flags. They put those flags where it is safest that day and move them as the sea changes. A red flag means do not go in, whatever this page says. An orange windsock means the wind is blowing offshore and inflatables should stay out of the water. Most places on this site have no lifeguard at all.
This advice is the RNLI’s. Their Float to Live pages are worth two minutes of anyone’s time.
Use this page elsewhere
One sheet of A4 with a QR code to this page, for a clubhouse, a campsite reception, a surf school or a harbour office. The address is printed underneath in words, so it still works for anybody who would rather not scan a code.
Print a sign for Combe MartinOr put today’s verdict on your own site.
Put this beach on your own site
A small card showing today’s verdict for Combe Martin, updating itself. Paste this where you want it to appear. It loads nothing of yours and sets no cookies, and it costs your visitors about ten kilobytes, most of it the readings themselves.
Click the box to select it all. There is also a feed for this beach, if you would rather be told than have to look.